The physical internet as a new supply chain paradigm: a systematic literature review and a comprehensive framework

Abstract

PurposeThe physical internet (PI) is an emerging logistics and supply chain management (SCM) concept that draws on different technologies and areas of research, such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and key performance indicators, with the purpose of revolutionizing existing logistics and SCM practices. The growing literature on the PI and its noteworthy potential to be a disruptive innovation in the logistics industry call for a systematic literature review (SLR), which we conducted that defines the current state of the literature and outlines future research directions and approaches.Design/methodology/approachThe SLR that was undertaken included journal publications, conference papers and proceedings, book excerpts, industry reports and white papers. We conducted descriptive, citation, thematic and methodological analyses to understand the evolution of PI literature.FindingsBased on the literature review and analyses, we proposed a comprehensive framework that structures the PI domain and outlines future directions for logistics and SCM researchers.Research limitations/implicationsOur research findings are limited by the relatively low number of journal publications, as the PI is a new field of inquiry that is composed primarily of conference papers and proceedings.Originality/valueThe proposed PI-based framework identifies seven PI themes, including the respective facilitators and barriers, which can inform researchers and practitioners on future potentially disruptive SC strategies.

Toward the Physical Internet—Logistics Service Modularity and Design Implications

“…In the backdrop of service modularization and packaging logistics, our study uses mathematical modeling to address the strategic logistics’ effects of the Physical Internet’s PI‐container flows. With extensive work done on some aspects of the concept but very little on PI‐containers (Treiblmaier et al, 2020; Sternberg and Norrman 2017) and previous research on maritime container repositioning, PI’s current state suggests that elaborating on the effects of the PI‐container system’s repositioning using mathematical modeling is suitable (Shintani et al 2007; Rogers et al 2012; Kuzmicz and Pesch, 2019).…”

“…This section outlines some of the concepts related to PI: packaging logistics and fill rates, the PI’s components, and modeling of maritime container repositioning. For a more extensive or general discussion of the concept, see Ballot et al’s (2014) book on PI or Treiblmaier et al’s (2020) recent literature review.…”

“…This paper’s purpose was to analyze PI‐containers from a strategic logistics perspective (Bartolacci et al 2012). We draw on theory of service modularity to frame antecedents to the Physical Internet’s future effects, responding to several quests for research on the Physical Internet (Treiblmaier et al, 2020; Pan et al 2017; Sternberg and Norrman 2017; Ambra et al 2019). Given that the Physical Internet’s goal is to meet the grand sustainability challenge of logistics (Montreuil 2011), the effect of PI‐container repositioning determines future benefits, a crucial factor determining intention to strategically adopt new innovation (Premkumar et al 1997; Venkatesh et al 2003).…”

Physical Internet: First results and next challenges

“…There have been several articles that provided a good systematic literature review of the latest published research in the Physical Internet such as Pan, Ballot, Huang, and Montreuil (2017), Sternberg and Norrman (2017), Matusiewicz et al (2020) and Treiblmaier, Mirkovski, Lowry, and Zacharia (2020). The following review of recently published PI research provides an update and brief overview of the articles published in 2019 and 2020 that have not been previously reviewed.…”

Interorganizational cooperation and supplier performance in high-technology supply chains

“…In their literature overview of a related concept-SC integration- Van der Vaart and van Donk (2008) find that most surveys report a positive relationship between SC integration and performance, but the authors question whether the nature of this relationship is well understood. To date, the vast majority of studies analyze data from Western companies and apply a Western perspective (Treiblmaier et al, 2020). Given that China is now involved in the high-tech electronics components supply chain more than any other country in the world there is a need for research that investigates the nature of SC relationships from an Asian perspective.…”